Housing collections

[Jim Leonard]

Richard wrote:
> What does everyone think is an acceptable temperature range for
> storage?  In Salt Lake my garage will get below freezing in winter and
> above 110 F in the summer.

Obviously that's not an acceptable range ;-)  In my (somewhat limited) 
experience, it's not the extremes you need to worry about, it's the 
duration.  10F or 110F isn't a problem for any unit as long as 1. it 
lasts less than 24 hours, 2. isn't operated during the extreme (duh), 
and 3. has a chance to warm/cool gradually before operation to avoid 
condensation issues.

My hardware experience stops at 1977 so obviously I may be missing 
things like water-cooled Crays that should never be subjected to 
freezing temperatures, etc.

> I have mixed feelings about ebay.  Its incredibly convenient for
> obscure items, but the bidding frenzy stuff and the "view at a
> distance" aspect sometimes irk me.

I got over the pricing stuff a while ago (I snipe all my bids 
automatically using a service); what irks me currently is the wild range 
of prices.  There are outfits who list things like somewhat uncommon PC 
and Mac components (drives, cables, a ROM, etc.) for $150 or more -- 
excuse me??  I guess 'old' equals 'goldmine' to the stupid people, and 
it bugs me to no end that you can't talk them down.  Ebay stops being 
convenient at that point.
-- 
Jim Leonard (trixter at oldskool.org)
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